Campbell reports on sustainability progress in 2012 CSR report

Campbell Soup Company has released its 2012 Corporate Social Responsibility report, entitled "Nourishing," emphasizing the company's integrated CSR approach to consumers, employees, the environment, and community.

"CSR and sustainability can mean many things, but I have challenged our leadership team and employees to consider these concepts as intuitive elements of the way we work to drive engagement, innovation, community impact, and business results," says Denise Morrison, president and CEO, Campbell Soup Company. "As we work to build a more innovative, balanced, and responsive Campbell, I believe we also have the opportunity to become one of the most socially responsible consumer goods companies in the world."

Campbell's fourth CSR report, "Nourishing" details the company's progress against its 2020 CSR Agenda, which include the following goals:

• Reduce water use by 20% and reduce the carbon footprint for tomatoes and vegetables by 30%

"The 2012 CSR report is a testament to our overarching CSR strategy and commitment to honoring our role as a sustainable producer," says Dave Stangis, vice president-Public Affairs and Corporate Responsibility. "As a food and beverage company, we strive to transparently address a unique range of topics, including sustainable agriculture, responsible sourcing, promotion of human health and sound nutrition, and responsiveness to consumers' expectations of the foods they choose for themselves and their families."

Progress to date
In the area of “Nourishing Our Planet,” or Environmental Stewardship, an executive summary of Campbell’s report reads, “We apply a consistent approach to managing the waste generated in our operations and employ a hierarchical decision-making process for reducing, reusing, and recycling while lowering total costs.

“Closed-loop options and beneficial reuse principles guide our processes when it comes to recycling materials. Last year, we reduced the amount of waste we sent to landfills by more than 7%.”

The report also notes that since 2009, sustainability investments across Campbell’s plant network have yielded savings of more than $28.5 million. One example is cited from Campbell’s V8 Packaging Team, which eliminated the use of approximately 900,000 paperboard sleeves, eliminating a significant waste stream and saving nearly $230,000 per year.

ADVERTISEMENT

The summary also adds that in the area of packaging sustainability, package design improvements have saved more than 24 million pounds of material over the past three years.

“Pepperidge Farm redesigned the Goldfish bread and Deli Flats packaging and reduced plastic usage by 65% (by unit weight),” the summary reads. “Lightweighting of Campbell’s new V8 PET beverage bottles saved more than 540,000 pounds of plastic. Ongoing expansion of the program will save more than 1.2 million pounds and more than $850,000 in FY2012.”